The invention relates to a printing press inking unit, and more particularly an inking unit guaranteeing a short ink path from an ink chamber or fountain to a cylinder with the printing image carrier, comprising a pitted roll provided with an ink chamber doctor arrangement having two doctor blades mounted with a mutual offset about the periphery of the pitted roll and preferably carried on a doctor mount so as to delimit an ink chamber.
In known arrangements of this type inking of the pitted roll is only able to take place when the ink chamber is completely full so that measures have to be taken to see that the ink is supplied to the ink chamber under a gage pressure. For this purpose it is then necessary to have an ink pump which causes the ink to circulate. In such an arrangement there is then a comparatively large body of circulating ink, something that is uneconomic and undesired if only a small amount of ink is to be used for printing. Furthermore the means for supplying ink to the ink chamber under pressure render the system expensive.